Pepsi's Chicago Wind Farm

There have been a lot of cases lately of private corporations taking over public spaces from the taxpayers.  But in Chicago, one company is doing the opposite.

Chicago is home to a regional office of Pepsico, and it recently located in a new building at 555 West Monroe Street.  One of the features of the building is a public park on the podium's roof.  It's just two stories above the cacophony below, but it is an oasis in an area desperate for greenspace.

Most people don't know it exists.  You enter through a dedicated elevator from an anonymous foyer on Monroe Street.  Once upstairs, there are some patches of grass, a few plantings, and lots of tables and chairs for a picnic.

Most impressive, however, is the rooftop wind and solar energy farm.  Here's a video showing the turbines and panels.  That noise you hear in the video isn't the turbines, it's the sound of nearby construction.




The farm and the green roof are two of the contributing factors that helped this building attain its LEED status.  And for as long as the roof remains a public amenity, we're happy to have Pepsico in the neighborhood.